This disclosure relates generally to supports for workmen, sportsmen, hobbyists and the like who perform activities in a seated and/or kneeling position for a sustained period of time, and more specifically to a combined seat and knee board apparatus mountable to a container, such as a utility bucket.
Utility buckets are ubiquitous in various types of work and recreational environments. For example, construction workers use utility buckets to carry tools from one job site or work station to another and to store tools or other implements where they are protected against moisture or harmful exposure to chemicals or the environment. Utility buckets are also widely used by sportsmen in the field. For example, fishermen traditionally carry buckets into a fishing area, sometimes containing equipment inside, and use them to carry their catches back home at the end of the day. Hobbyists such as gardeners also use utility buckets to transport and hold tools while tending to their gardens and to collect pulled weeds and other yard debris.
The use of knee pads and cushioned knee boards is commonly encountered in many of the same work and recreational environments in which utility buckets are utilized, particularly when the task being performed is repetitive or is performed over a long period of time. For example, in the work and recreational scenarios described above, a construction worker uses knee pads to protect and provide comfort for his knees while performing repetitive tasks along the floor line at a job site, and a gardener uses a padded kneeboard while kneeling to remove weeds from a garden. One drawback to using knee pads, however, is that they typically are strapped to a worker's leg and regularly shift position with movement. This requires frequent readjustment in the field. Because knee boards are not attached to the user, they do not present the same inconvenience; however, they are not as commonly used in harsh work environments because they are not typically as durable as knee pads.
In circumstances where repetitive or sustained activity is not performed in a kneeling position, the use of buckets as makeshift seats is a common practice. The use of a bucket as a seat typically involves sitting on an attached bucket lid or inverting the bucket to use the bottom as a seat. For example, an auto mechanic using a bucket to carry his tools empties the bucket and inverts it to be used as a seat while performing maintenance on the brake system of a truck. However, inverting the bucket to be used as a seat is problematic for many reasons. For example, it is inefficient to remove the contents of a bucket every time it is to be used as a seat, and doing so in some circumstances may expose the contents to harmful environments or create a safety hazard. Use of a bucket in this manner is also uncomfortable as buckets are typically made of hard plastic or metal and provide no cushioning. Use of an attached bucket lid as a seat is also uncomfortable for the same reason. To address these problems, bucket covers adapted to be used as seats are widely available in the marketplace.
Covers for buckets adapted to be used as seats typically fit onto the top of a bucket and provide only a small area on which to sit. A portion of the area may be padded or adapted to provide a small work area like a table top. However, many of these covers fail to provide an adequately large area on which to more evenly distribute the weight of the user while performing varied tasks, particularly those involving awkward postures and vigorous movements, and are unstable in some circumstances, such as when a user is not actively sitting on the cover. In addition, these covers fail to provide a safe and comfortable support for individuals performing repetitive or lengthy tasks in a kneeling position. For these reasons, there is a need for a versatile, comfortable, stable and protective support for workers, hobbyists and the like who perform repetitive and lengthy tasks while using a bucket. The present invention satisfies this and other needs.